Locality: Fresh Lens Photography

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photographing the photographer

At the risk of sounding like my Locality posts are all about my friends, Hayley Morgan, the owner of local photography company Fresh Lens, is a friend of mine.

Not that you need to know that we’re friends to appreciate her skill. Her work speaks for itself.

Florence
Florence

Hayley is one of those incredibly multi-talented people: she can draw, she can paint, she can write, and she can take a mean picture. And those are just in the creative arts genre.

Photography is merely the most recent of her creative endeavors. When I met her, she showed me a drawing of Brad Pitt that could almost have walked right off the page, it was so lifelike.

When it comes to things aesthetic, I would trust Hayley’s judgement 98% of the time. The other two percent of the time, I probably get it wrong. Yes, perhaps I’m laying it on thick, but Hayley has the proverbial eye that sees how something should or could be captured, not merely the way that it appears.

Dapper groomsmen

Hayley is not merely a good photographer: she is also involved in the community. After the Goderich tornado of August 2011, Hayley put together an album of images of the storm’s aftermath and the people it affected. The proceeds from the sale of the full-colour book go towards tornado relief in Goderich. Check out dis.tor.tion here.

dis.tor.tion

The mom of two is also involved with Owen’s Light Mothering Project, an initiative that “financially supports our community’s doula program” (learn more on Hayley’s blog post). Hayley recently donated her time to a fundraiser for Owen’s Light (which you would already know if you read her blog post and came back), a fantastic community initiative. If someday I am so fortunate as to have babies, I would love to have a doula.

baby in a bowl

I will be officially interviewing Hayley at some point, so that you can feel like you have met the woman behind the camera.

Of course, you could always go ahead and meet that woman in person!

To contact Hayley or for more information about her photography sessions:

(All photography in this post is by Hayley Morgan)

international womens day

I’m a Woman! Today is my day!

Sarah Stright2 Comments

international womens day

Ra! Ra!

Today is International Women’s Day, an annual celebration of womanhood and true femininity, a day when women’s issues (abortion, contraception, equality, etc.) get talked about on every radio station, news report, and newspaper around the world.

This notion of celebrating women on one day every year is just over one hundred years old. It began with a Socialist Party of America declaration in 1909. The idea soon spread across the pond to Copenhagen and then Germany, and so the movement became international.

Initially, as you might imagine, the movement reflected the values of the women’s suffrage campaign: equality of rights and voting.

Today is a day when we as western women are grateful for those matrons in long skirts and hats (I always think of the wacky mother from Mary Poppins when I think of suffrage. Unfortunate, I know.), wreaking havoc on patriarchal traditions everywhere they could, in an effort to be treated as they were: equal. Different, of course, but equal.

Today is a day when we are grateful for the second-wave feminists of the 80s who proved that a female executive was every bit as competent as a male one.

We do kind of regret the image of women as master multi-taskers, though. That’s the pressure that urges us to keep up with the housewives AND the career women: look amazing, be involved in our community, keep a clean house, raise smart and well-behaved children, cook healthy meals, usher our kids around to sports events, all the while proving ourselves as highly competent in the professional realm. I’m exhausted just writing all that.

Theory and history and multi-tasking aside, a day to be grateful for the people in your life is a good day.

To the many women that inspire me, thank you. I am honoured to know you. Thank you for speaking into my life, for believing in me, for giving me your time, respect, and trust.

I would name you, but there are too many to count, and I don’t want to forget any.

Please consider going out of your way to appreciate a person today, whether a man or a woman, though it is a particularly ideal day to appreciate the women you know. Like me. 😉

stripping truth down to its original lie.

“Stripping truth down to its original lie”

Sarah Stright1 Comment

stripping truth down to its original lie.

My friend Keeley is one of my favourite people to talk with for hours. We sit in cafés and talk about the things we are learning, and we connect new ideas with old ones as we help each other round out our understanding of the world.

Keeley is a writer, too, but of a different kind. She is a poet, able to capture unique glimpses of humanity in lines and stanzas.

Recently, Keeley wrote this beautiful and thought-provoking poem that really resonates with me:

reaching-poem

I have often felt like I am broken. Like what I really am is only a reflection of what I present to the world. Like I need to lie to continue to breathe, to cope.

I often felt like this in the months before and after my mom died in 2008.

Feelings like the ones “Reaching” evokes are also similar to the ones that led to my leaving the church several years ago. Falsity. A sense of shallowness. “Masquerading honesty”. “Skewed perception”. (Disclaimer: I don’t believe all church communities are like this. Mine was. Too many are.)

Go back and read Keeley’s poem again, if you can. It’s so nuanced and insightful.

I want to say more about this poem, but I am afraid of not doing Keeley’s words justice.

So I’ll let them speak for themselves.

Avocado

Playing Favourites: Avocado

Sarah Stright11 Comments

Did you know that there are “good fats” that we should be eating?

Coconut is one. Almond butter is another. They’re both pretty delicious.

But my favourite is avocado.

Avocado

Last night, I mashed up an avocado and squeezed some lemon juice into it to use as a sauce on a baked pork chop.

This morning, I cut up an avocado and a tomato and ate them in a bowl with two fried (Gingerich organic) eggs and salt and pepper on top.

I was introduced to avocado when I lived in Mexico. There, avocado is made into guacamole (which we all know and love), blended with peppers and other ingredients into a creamy salsa, sliced and put on sandwiches and hamburgers, blended with thick cream as a sauce for flautas, and so much more.

Avocado finds its way into my salads as well. Its creamy smoothness is a nice counterpart to something like onion or garlic.

A simple and absolutely delicious way to enjoy avocado is to make your own guacamole. You have probably had it at restaurants or purchased the powdered mix at stores, but I’m here to tell you that you should be ashamed of yourself. That is, if you have never tried to make it from scratch, from fresh ingredients, you should be ashamed of yourself. Please disregard this if you don’t even like avocado at all.

To make your own guacamole, you need a handful of ingredients:

guacamole ingredients

I usually use at least 2 avocados. You’ll want to add more if you’re making this for a party.

First, choose avocados that are dark, almost black, in colour, and have some give to them when you squeeze them gently. I would recommend buying avocados at least a day ahead of when you want to make your guacamole, to give the avocados a chance to ripen a bit more. The worst is when you crack open an unripe avocado and realize there’s no way you can mash it with a fork.

Cut the avocados in half, like the one pictured. Remove the pit. Scoop the avocado out of the skin with a spoon and into a bowl large enough to mix all of the ingredients.

Mash the avocado with a fork until any lumps are obliterated.

At this point, I usually add a few dashes of lime juice (or lemon juice if you don’t have lime), a few shakes of salt (I use free-running sea salt), and I press one clove of garlic into the bowl, then mix well. Then, I add finely chopped onion, diced tomato (cut as large or as small as you like. I like it chunky, but others prefer it smooth), and chopped cilantro.

Mix well.

Add more salt and lime juice to taste, and even more garlic if you’re that kind of person. For heat, you could add some finely chopped jalapeño or habanero or other hot pepper.

Et voila! Thick, healthy yummyness that you can dip raw veggies into, spread on a sandwich, put in a quesadilla or taco, eat with tortilla chips… the list goes on.

(photo source) (I didn’t want to make my own guacamole just to take a picture for this post. Sometime in the future I’ll make some and take a picture and put it here. 🙂 )

There are many other ways to use avocado. The sky is the limit!

Here are a few recipes I would like to try:

goderich hockeyville 2012

Why I’m Conflicted about Goderich’s bid for Hockeyville 2012

Sarah Stright10 Comments

goderich hockeyville 2012

*Note: Since posting this (quick personal opinion) blog, this article about the state of affairs at Goderich’s Memorial Arena, which is run by the Maitland Recreation Centre (hence why Maitland is listed as the arena on the bid) was brought to my attention. I admit I was not aware of all of the issues at the arena, nor that the “old arena” would be receiving the money if Goderich wins. That clears up a couple of my concerns. Thank you, Goderich Hockeyville people, for correcting me.

As I say in my comment below, my main concern now is whether by winning, Goderich might prevent a more deserving community with an arena in even worse shape from getting necessary repairs. I tried to find out the condition of the arenas of other contenders, but wasn’t able to before getting this post out. I would welcome any information you could share. If it becomes clear that Goderich’s Memorial Arena is in a state that is comparable to, or worse off, than the other communities vying for this money, I would get behind this thing 150%.

Again: this is my opinion! Controversial thoughts are important… they help keep people honest and communities healthy. Please don’t take this the wrong way!

~~~

Normally, I am a community promoter. You should be able to tell that from my Locality series. I think that not enough people are excited about some of the great things in their own backyards.

I’m conflicted, however, about voting for my hometown to be Hockeyville* 2012.

What is Hockeyville? Here’s what the official rules have to say:

ARE YOU KRAFT HOCKEYVILLE 2012?

From a downtown community neighbourhood rink in Vancouver to a small community in New Brunswick, hockey communities exist all over this country, but which one has what it takes to be the best? Kraft Hockeyville 2012 (the   “Competition”),   presented by   Kraft   Canada Inc., the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, NHL Enterprises Canada, L.P., and the National Hockey League Players’   Association   (collectively,   the   “Sponsors”),   is   the   unique   and   exciting competition designed to find out which Canadian community stands above all the others. The Competition  will  seek  out  the  community  that  best  exemplifies Canada’s  spirit.  It’s  the  ultimate Canadian Competition!

The  winning  community  (the  “Grand  Prize  Winning  Community”)  will  win  the  experience  of  a lifetime, including:
● “Kraft  Hockeyville  2012”  title  and  trophy
● The opportunity to host an NHL® pre-season  hockey  game  (the  “Game”)
● $100,000 to be used for upgrades to the Home Arena that the winning Entrant nominates (as such terms are defined below)

In addition, the Grand Prize Winning Community will be featured on a CBC television broadcast related to the Game in the fall of 2012, at a date to be determined by the Sponsors in their sole discretion.

On Saturday night, after Hockey Night in Canada, my hometown of Goderich, Ontario was named one of 15 communities in the running for 2012’s Hockeyville title, which comes with all the advantages mentioned above.

Here are the things that I think are great about this competition:

  • It is building community spirit in a town that was recently struck a few blows with the loss of a couple of big employers, and August’s F3 tornado, which damaged much of our downtown core, resulted in 25 houses (this number is one that I haven’t been able to either substantiate or disprove. Perhaps I should walk around town and count.) being written off, and damaged many others.
  • Hosting an NHL pre-season game will introduce more people to a town that I think is pretty great, and further unite the people of the community that actually care about it

I am concerned about some other aspects, though.

What about the people of Goderich that still don’t have houses?

What about other Canadian communities that don’t have two functioning arenas, one of which was built within the last ten years?

Does our newest arena (the one that is nominated in the competition) really need $100,000 worth of upgrades? It’s not even 10 years old!

Are we using the whole “our town had a tornado” card as a sympathy bid? Is it appropriate if we are? There are communities in Canada that don’t have enough houses for their people, let alone two functioning arenas! (think Attawapiskat, for one)

While I do believe that some of the people of Goderich could use help getting their houses and lives back after the tornado, I have a hard time believing that getting money as an arena upgrade really helps the town.

I guess what I’m saying is that I am okay with Goderich winning the title of Hockeyville 2012, but I would ask whether we really are the most deserving of that $100,000. Is it fair for us to use our two arenas to bulk up our Hockeyville bid with special events when other towns may have only one functioning arena that may need some serious repair?

I have not done extensive research on the other 14 communities, so I don’t know what their needs are, but I would love to see Goderich named Hockeyville 2012, then donate the $100,000 to a community that is worse off than we are. It’s probably not possible: I assume the funds are specifically allocated to be used for the winning arena.

But wouldn’t that be fantastic? Wouldn’t that make you even prouder of Goderich?

As it stands, I am not sure I can vote with a  clear conscience.

*I am purposely leaving out “Kraft”, even though it is the official title, because it doesn’t matter to me or the average Goderich-ite which giant corporation is sponsoring this contest, and they don’t need the little guy to help their business by mentioning their brand.

Johnathan got a job!!!!!!

Sarah Stright1 Comment

I know that multiple exclamation marks are redundant and annoying, but I needed some way of conveying my excitement.

Johnathan has been looking for a job for what seems like FOREVER.

By forever, I mean several months. I mean many, many resumés. I mean tons of applications. I mean two interviews a week sometimes. I mean, head-scratching, doubt-enducing, desperation-germinating, carb-inhaling, caffeine-addiction-building months!

When you know that someone is smart and fully qualified and appropriately experienced, yet they are still not hired for so long, you start wondering if there is something really wrong with their resumé that they haven’t realized. Something worthy of a “Damn you, Auto Correct!” moment, perhaps.

Imagine our relief when there was a sudden surge in interview requests, and then, at long last, a job offer! (I really want to type a hundred exclamation points here…)

John starts tomorrow. Mechanical engineering technologist, back in the game!

I guess he didn’t have any unfortunate typos in his resumé after all. Either that or he did, and he’s gotten himself into something that is not what it seems… awkward!

Either way, all that desperation and doubt has hit the curb, and we’re off on another adventure.

Scale no weighing

Whole30 and Getting Wholly Healthy

Sarah Stright24 Comments

Scale no weighing

On the Whole9 people’s list of guidelines for the Whole30 diet (which I started on February 22, 2012), there is a bit of a strange stipulation against weighing and measuring yourself:

One last and final rule. You are not allowed to step on the scale or take any body measurements for the duration of the program. This is about so much more than just weight loss, and to focus on your body composition means you’ll miss out on the most dramatic and lifelong benefits this plan has to offer. So, no weighing yourself, analyzing body fat or taking comparative measurements during your Whole30. (We do encourage you to weigh yourself before and after, however, so you can see one of the more tangible results of your efforts when your program is over.

This, of course, flies in the face of everything that we know to be normal about diets and weight loss programs, right? We’re all familiar with that Before and After series of torso shots of people standing in their bathroom in underwear. We hear of people stepping on the scale to monitor their progress.

It’s natural. We are curious: we want to know!

One of the things I really like about the Whole9 mindset is that health is not only about weight loss. Instead, it’s all about balance.

Balance between quality and quantity, between getting healthy and staying healthy.

I forgot to take the requisite torso shot on the first day of my diet, and again at the one-week mark. I regret that, and I regret that I didn’t realize this final rule until I went back after I started my second week to make sure I was doing things right.

But I’m excited. I am so proud that I made the decision to do something that is so against the grain in order to not lose control of my body and my health to comfort foods and convenience. I’m thrilled at how energetic I feel and that I have been motivated to take up running. For years, I have felt a distinct lack of discipline in my life, and I feel like I finally am gathering the skills to be more disciplined.

I’m actually considering making this endeavour a Whole45 or Whole60, in an attempt to completely break my dependence on sweets and any remaining emotional connection with food. It sounds a bit hokey for those of us that looooooove to eat, but I don’t want to be ruled by hunger pangs or enslaved to potato chips.

I want to be clear: this is not about shedding pounds. Yes, I would like to avoid having to buy another wardrobe, which means losing some girth in the hip-thigh-tummy region, and I’m afraid of “letting myself go”, which could so very easily happen. But I want to make the decision to be healthy, not just skinnier. Healthy.

Please comment with your perspective on our tendency to have an emotional connection with food…